My first month with Greek Life

One month ago, I assumed my new role at Southeast as Assistant Vice President which includes a major increase in involvement with our Greek students. It is no secret that students in large groups can on occasion make poor choices and for Greek students the easily identifiable letters they wear make them even easier to pick out. After all, the person who has no previous experience with Greek organizations cannot tell the different between letters of the Greek alphabet and Egyptian hieroglyphics.  Sure Greek students are easy targets and sometimes the criticism is warranted. As I shared at a recent meeting with some of Greek students, if you are going to be Greek you need to have thick skin. 

After a full month on the job, there are two important observations about the Greek community at Southeast I want to share. First is academics and the second is the maturity of Greek student leaders.

Most students are at Southeast for their education. While not a perfect measure, grades are a pretty good measure of how well one is accomplishing this goal. All Greek organizations have education at the top of their expectations for their members. If this is in fact the first priority of Greek organizations then the grades of students in the Greek system are a good measure of how well Greek students are meeting this critical expectation. Overall, Greeks have a 3.03 grade point average for the Fall 2012 semester, which is higher than the all University undergraduate grade point average. Simply put, the typical Greek student is a 3.0+ student at Southeast. The Greek women should be even more proud as the all sorority average is a 3.2 grade point average.  Greeks are often labeled with some crude stereotypes, however, the numbers show that no matter what claims are made about Greeks and their outside the classroom activities, they are getting the job done in the classroom. 

The last weekend in January, 25 Greek student leaders, Christine Loy, Steve Backer, and myself met at Touch of Nature in Southern Illinois to talk about Greek Life at Southeast and what we can collectively do to improve the Greek system. As we left the retreat a number of my beliefs/thoughts about the students within our Greek system were confirmed:

• Greek students know what is happening in their system and they have ideas on how to address these challenges. 
• There is a need for better trust between our Greek students and the University. This is a process that takes some time, but is built upon being upfront about the reality of what is happening on and off campus. Simply arguing for risk elimination is pointless; risk mitigation/reduction is the real goal. 
• There is real talent within the Greek system. Some of it is seen daily by students in very formal leadership roles, others is best observed at programs such as the Greek leadership retreat.
• Everyone may not always believe it, but Dr. Dobbins and Dr. Below recognize, respect, and appreciate the critical role and level of service the Greek system provides to Southeast Missouri State University and the local community.
• The University and Greeks need to partner together to better market Greek Life. There is a great story to tell inside Greek Life and with the help of the University (Admissions, First Step, SMD, tours, publications, etc.) we can provide a more accurate picture of what being Greek at Southeast is about. 

One month in and I am looking forward to what the rest of the semester holds. We have Greek Week in a few months and it promises to be another great experience for our students. I still recall my first Greek Sing as a student. Anyone else remember, “I can show you the world” theme song to Aladdin?  That was a Greek Sign skit!